With all the hoopla surrounding the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham III’s rediscovery of Machu Picchu on July 24, 1911, there’s never been more interest in visiting the ruins that he dubbed the Lost City of the Incas. The best way to arrive, of course, is by hiking the Inca Trail. (A path, incidentally, that was another one of Bingham’s finds—he uncovered it while exploring the area around Machu Picchu in 1915.) But the days when an adventurous traveler could fly into Cusco on a Saturday and depart for the Inca Trail on Sunday have long since come and gone. Walking the Inca Trail requires equal parts dreaming and strategizing—not to mention a few trips to the gym. Here are a few tips on how to get the most out of your trek.

June 28, 2011

You probably saw this video over the weekend of the spinner shark jumping over the surfer at New Smyrna Beach, Florida? It's a rare moment caught on video—and one that might make you wonder just what you'll encounter out in the deep blue this 4th of July holiday. We asked the Surfrider Foundation weigh in so we don't miss riding a single wave this weekend.

The video was certainly interesting...inasmuch as that sort of jumping behavior, while common, hasn’t been well documented on film—and certainly not in proximity of surfers.

As far as surfers recreating in the ocean in proximity to sharks... well, it is the ocean! Most surfers recognize that we share our surf breaks with sharks. Most of the time they tend to be fairly benign species—leopard sharks, nurse sharks, angel sharks, etc., but also occasionally include larger species of predatory sharks, including tiger and white sharks.

Most of the time, we surfers never even know these sharks are there. On those few occasions, where surfers or swimmers do encounter sharks the sharks behavior typically ranges from mild curiosity to flat out disinterest. I think most seasoned surfers understand this and as such, take the presence of sharks in stride.

Bottom line is that while the threat of shark attack always exists, surfers and bathers have much, much, much greater chance of getting hurt or killed traveling to and from the beach, then they do while they are in the water.

There are times when you don’t want to walk around in the world wearing a pack that screams, “I’m a photographer.” Times, for example, like, whenever you leave the house. Not only does a big nylon backpack tinseled with webbing make it difficult to be unobtrusive (often a key to capturing great images), it also suggests to thieves, muggers, and ne’er-do-wells that you’re holding thousands of dollars in direct-to-Ebay merchandise. The second half of that “I’m a photographer” scream? “Please rob me.”

Ona’s Union Street messenger-style camera bag, $279, is nothing if not discrete. Constructed of waxed canvas that has a buttery-but-tough feel, it looks like a traditional messenger that’s more likely to be stuffed with a breakfast bagel and the latest New Yorker than several thousand dollars worth of electronics. No, from the outside, nothing suggests Cartier-Bresson. With a padded leather bottom, brass tuck-lock closure, and the stealthy suede hand of the fabric, it’s much more Clark Kent.

Big Bend is all about a sense of vastness: Hundred-mile views sweep across the hills, arroyos, and mesas of the Chihuahuan Desert with nary a sign of civilization. No place delivers a sense of the park’s enormity—and solitude—better than the high country of the Chisos Mountains. This three-day, two-night hike climbs into and traverses the south rim of the range, where you can stand in the shade of big maples, cypress, oaks, and ponderosa pines and view the austere beauty of the desert far below.

Insider Tip: Cache water in advance at Blue Creek Canyon so you only have to carry two days’ worth of liquid.

At 14,259 feet, Longs Peak is the crown of Rocky Mountain National Park and a coveted trophy for mountaineers who take on its hugely exposed big-wall ramparts. The rest of us can hike up, which means tackling an eight-mile approach called the Keyhole Route that gains 4,850 feet. It requires stamina, boulder scrambling, and route finding. Stay on target and you’ll come out on top of the world.

Insider Tip: Set your alarm. You need to set out by 3 a.m. to get off the summit by 10 a.m., before the frequent afternoon thunderstorms.

Teton Crest Trail, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

The signature hike of Grand Teton National Park threads its way along the interior spine of the Teton range, joining high divides and passes, alpine lakes, and intimate looks at those iconic craggy summits. The brief hiking season coincides with a supernova burst of color—carpets of lupine, streams choked with mountain bluebells. At Fox Creek Pass you get sweeping views of Jackson Hole in Wyoming and Teton Valley in Idaho. And starting in Hurricane Pass, every view for several miles frames the three Tetons in all their glory.

Insider Tip: Leave a car at trail’s end—the Leigh Lake trailhead—then ride the Teton Village tram to start the hike on the Granite Canyon Trail.

One of the charms of Acadia is the way subtle human “improvements” work with the park’s thick spruce-fir forests, rugged mountains, and steep cliffs to make it all accessible—and just a bit thrilling. Such is the case with this undesignated trail loop that rises from the park’s most civilized venue, Jordan Pond House (elevation 200 feet), to the wild summit of Sargent Mountain (1,373 feet). En route you skirt Jordan Cliffs and East Cliffs by way of constructed steps and fortuitously placed iron rungs, making the hike possible, though far from easy. The reward is a three-coastline view of Mount Desert Island and an inland vista that extends to distant Baxter Peak and Katahdin.

Insider Tip: Cool off with a brisk plunge into Sargent Pond on your way down from the mountain.

Celebrating Great Outdoors Month With 35 Great Hikes

This is the hike you’ll talk about as all the others fade into pleasant memories. Not only do you climb 4,800 feet out of Yosemite Valley and past Vernal and Nevada Falls, but the last 900 feet are right up the granite face of fabled Half Dome. Luckily, you get a hand from well-placed steel cables on your way top of the dome. It’s a heart-thumping, insanely wonderful feeling to be hanging in space until you top out—and then the view takes over.

Insider Tip: Break it up by staying the night in Little Yosemite Valley campground, about halfway to Half Dome. This gives you a huge head start on the legions of hikers who do the dome every day.

On Friday, June 10th the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office released the toxicology report for Philip Andrew “Andy” Irons. It states that his primary cause of death was a sudden cardiac arrest associated with coronary artery disease with a 70-80 percent stenosis (abnormal narrowing) of one of his arteries. It further states that his secondary cause of death was “acute mixed drug ingestion.” According to the report, the following drugs were found either on his person or in his system: Alprazolam (Xanax), Zolpidem (Ambien), cannabinoids (marijuana), naproxen (anti-inflammatory), cocaethylene (a chemical produced in the body when cocaine and alcohol are mixed that’s linked to causing heart attacks in people under forty), methamphetamine, methadone, and cocaine. The report includes a lengthy “comments” section explaining how cocaine and methadone can impede the work of the heart—thereby making their presence in Irons’ body “significant.” It concludes with the following: “the primary and underlying cause of death is ischemic heart disease due to coronary artery pathology (heart disease). Drugs however, particularly, methadone and cocaine, are other significant conditions contributing to death but not resulting in the underlying cause.”

Some, like Dr. Vincent Di Maio, an award-winning forensic expert and media stalwart hired by the Irons family, believe that drugs did not contribute to Irons’ death. Others, like the numerous doctors anecdotally consulted for this piece, side with the medical examiners in Tarrant County citing the myriad and well-documented ways that prolonged drug use can debilitate the heart. In life, Irons’ rock star combination of savant surfing and personal brashness polarized the surfing community like few other public figures, so it is grimly fitting that his death should do the same.

The premature death of a famous and monetarily influential person is always a tragedy, but never just a tragedy. It is many things to many people: a PR nightmare, the scoop of a lifetime, an inconvenience for a tour that seeks legitimacy, the instant canonization of his legend, a damning comment on celebrity culture, a cautionary tale, the tragic loss of a father, brother, husband and son, an ode to self destruction, an episode better left forgotten, an opportunity to change.

What makes Irons unique is not that he self-destructed; it’s that he did so in full view of his sponsors, the media, and his fans—while he was still one of the best surfers in the world. His story presents an interesting study in the way the surfing world, and action-sports cultures in general, function as they mature into full-blown consumer industries.

View many of Glacier’s most iconic features—big, clear, glacial valley lakes, alpine meadows filled with wildflowers; the omnipresent possibility of seeing a grizzly—en route to a glorious view from the maw of Grinnell, one of the park’s signature glaciers. The trail skirts Swiftcurrent and Josephine Lakes (opt for a tour boat if you want to knock 3.8 miles off the approach) before ascending 1,600 feet to the narrow, fissured glacier hanging high above milky blue Grinnell Lake.

Insider Tip: Push on past the glacier’s outflow for a jaw-dropping view of Grinnell Lake and a host of alpine summits. The incredible vistas are worth the 1,200-foot climb, first to the saddle between Mount Gould and Angel Wing, and then up to the ridge just below the summit of Angel Wing.